Retired elementary school teacher Alice Bag has also earned renown as a punk rock musician, Latina author, and painter. Photo Credit: Alice Bag
There are numerous examples of exceptional educators who also exhibit talents in artistic endeavors. One of these is Alice Bag, a retired elementary school bilingual education teacher who has also earned renown as a punk rock musician, Latina author, and painter.
Alice Bag was born Alicia Armendariz on November 7, 1958, in the barrio of East Los Angeles. Her parents were impoverished immigrants from Mexico. As a youngster, Alice had few friends in school, and was often the target of bullies. Because of her personal experiences as a Latina student who did not speak English when she entered the classroom, the future teacher became a passionate supporter of education, especially for bilingual programs. Alice was obviously an exceptional child. She was only eight years old when she began her professional singing career. She recorded theme songs for cartoons in both English and Spanish.
As an adult, Alice became the co-founder and lead singer of The Bags, one of the first all-female punk rock groups to emerge from the Los Angeles area. The band, which was formed in the mid-70’s, was most active during the years 1977 through 1981. During these years they released their best-known singles, “Survive” and “Babylonian Gorgon.”
As a young woman, Alice was a personality ripe for rebellion. “Rock ‘n’ roll stands for rebellion,” she once explained, “and if you’re feeling disenfranchised, it gives you a voice.” Alice had much to rebel against. An abusive father, for one thing; a Latino culture that favored males, for another; and on top of that, racial discrimination against the Latino community. Music gave her the opportunity to channel that rebellion. For her pioneering work as a Latina punk rock performer, Alice has been featured in the Penelope Spheeris documentary The Decline of Western Civilization, and a traveling Smithsonian exhibition entitled “American Sabor: Latinos in U.S. Popular Music.”
After the break-up of The Bags, Alice studied how to bake pastries with a French patissier, studied painting at a community college, started a daily blog and website devoted to the history of the LA punk scene, and authored two books. In 2011, Alice published her memoir, Violence Girl: East L.A. Rage to Hollywood Stage: A Chicana Punk Story, which describes her childhood of domestic violence. The coming-of-age volume launched a reading and performance tour across the United States, and is also taught in many university courses in the departments of literature, gender studies, and Chicano studies. Her second book, Pipe Bomb for the Soul, was released in 2015. She has also released two solo albums: Blueprint in 2018 and Sister Dynamite in 2020.
After Alice earned her Bachelor’s degree in Philosophy from California State University at Los Angeles, she began teaching in inner-city schools in LA using the name Alice Velazquez, her married name. She retired after 20 years in the classroom. Alice says her years as a teacher brought a sense of clarity to the lyrics of her current songs. “I was quick to get in arguments and often get in fights,” she remembers of her pre-teaching years. “Working with children, I found that I couldn’t ever be angry at a child. If there was a problem communicating or reaching the child, I felt like it was my responsibility to figure out how to communicate what I was trying to say,” she explains. “I think I became a more effective communicator. I learned how to clarify my thoughts,” she concludes.
To read more about Alice Bag and her experiences as a teacher, click on this link to a June, 2018, post entitled “No Soy Monedita de Oro” published on her blog.
